Nicolas Roche may not be the leader of a WorldTour team anymore, but he wants to progress in some massive races and also feels he can go for his own wins with Team Sky.
Having been leader of the Ag2 La Mondiale team up until two years ago, Nicolas Roche changed direction in his career at the start of the 2013 season.
He began riding for Tinkoff-Saxo; his main job being to ride for Alberto Contador.
However, he still took a great stage win at the Vuelta and wore the leader’s jersey and also every other classification jersey on his way to a 5th place finish.
Last year he would come into the season under strength after a knee injury impacted his training, a factor that forced him to rework his race schedule in the early months of the campaign.
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Roche showing the signs of a bad stage 6 crash on the Giro in May; a massive come down after the welcome he received at the start of the race in Belfast.
He would endure a nightmare Giro d’Italia when a crash derailed his plans to rider for general classification.
But he would bounce back to win a stage and the overall at the Route du Sud in June.
He has now become a Team Sky member, where again his key role is to ride for a team leader; this time Chris Froome, who will need help in the Grande Tours.
However, Roche has suggested that fact will not prevent him for targeting results of his own. And he believes he can win races as a Team Sky rider.
Roche would bounce back nicely from the Giro for his first ever professional stage race win, wrapping up overall victory at the three-day Route du Sud in June. He won the queen stage alone and also took the points jersey.
“The Vuelta is the perfect race for me,” he said in an interview on the team’s website.
“I’ve finished fifth, sixth, and just outside the top 10 on a few occasions.
“I’d like to progress in one-day races, particularly the Ardennes classics, because with the training paths I’ve taken up to now; they’ve always come too early in the season.
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“I’ve been there or thereabouts a few times but that cutting edge has been missing.
“San Sebastian is another race I’d like to do well in,” he said of the Spanish one day race where he finished 5th in 2013 and 8th in 2010.
Winning stage 2 of the 2013 Vuelta; sailing over the line delighted, with second placed Daniel Moreno in the background (Photo: Sirotti)
“(San Sebastian) comes a week after the Tour de France and I’m usually in great condition at that point.
“If there’s one race I think I could win one day it’d be that as it’s the most suited to me.”
He added he had hoped to become a Team Sky rider for a long time and was now looking forward to the challenge and being a team mate of fellow Irishman Philip Deignan.
“I’ve known Phil since his very first race as a junior,” he said.
Leading the Vuelta in 2013; he says the race is perfect for him as demonstrated by his results there down the years.
“I’d started a couple of months earlier and we came through the ranks together.
“We’ve done ten world championships, two Olympics, and countless other races together and I class him as a really good friend.”
Roche added he enjoyed a good break after the world championships in Spain in September but had been focussed on training for the forthcoming season for months.
“I spent some time in Japan after the Saitama Criterium which I enjoyed,” he said of his post season break.
“I started training again at the start of November and built from there. Now I’m just looking forward to the racing.”
In the green of Ireland at the World Championships in Spain in September; an attack on the penultimate lap was overhauled (Photo: Sirotti)
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